


nessica is real

by armadilo



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, jess why have i done this what have i done, oh my god im so sorry for this??, please ignore this if u dont know what its about bc i dont have an explanation, shjdskanfdmv, this is literally just a birthday present
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-03 21:33:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6627307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/armadilo/pseuds/armadilo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall Horan and Jessica Still bump into each other by complete chance outside of a pub in Putney and the rest, as they say, is history.</p>
            </blockquote>





	nessica is real

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jessiicaa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessiicaa/gifts).



> um??happy birthday Jess I guess??oh god rip

“Slow down you guys, honestly!”, Charlotte shouts, almost tripping over a crack in the pavement in an attempt to keep up with the two, much taller girls, speeding a couple metres ahead of her.

“Hey, it's not my fault you're wearing the most ridiculously tall heels I've ever seen”, Tereza whips her head round, grinning at Charlotte, before linking arms with Jess and pulling her further along.

“Hey, I did not come all the way from America to be treated like this by you two!”, Charlotte tries to sound threatening but instead barely suppresses the laughter in her voice. She tries to pick up the pace, only to nearly twist her ankle on yet another bump in the road. Finally, with a sigh deliberately loud enough for the two girls in front to hear even over the late-night rush of traffic besides them, she bends down to unclasp the 6-inch monstrosities from around her ankles. Significantly shorter but far more free, she makes a bee-line across the pavement, trying to avoid the mine zone of various wrappers, pieces of gum, and cigarette butts strewn across it. 

“If I cut my foot on something on this disgusting pavement, it'll be up to you to carry me home, just so you're aware”, she sneaks up on Jess and Tereza, reaching up to throw her arms over both their shoulders.

“You know we'd never let you get hurt, Charlotte”, says Jess, planting a kiss to the side of Charlotte's face and leaving behind a slight smudge of red lipstick. “Honestly though, I'm so glad that you could make it for my birthday. I can't believe I finally got to meet you in real life, after all this time? I love you so much, honestly”.

“I love both of you, too”, Charlotte replies, and the three grip onto each other as they make their way further down the street, weaving their way through the gentle throng of people, the excited chatter of the ones making their way home from the concert mixing with the drunken yells of the ones making their way between the numerous pubs along the road. 

“God, we really do get sappy sometimes, don't we?”, Tereza laughs, and her look of endearment is returned from either side. 

“I still can't believe I got to see both Panic at the Disco and Charlotte for my birthday, though. Like, I swear this day can't get any better”, says Jess.

“I still can't believe Brendon Urie fucking winked at you”, retorts Tereza. “You're lucky I love you so much, otherwise I'd stay bitter about that for the next ten years”

“It's only 'cause she's so bloody tall, he couldn't not notice her in that crowd”, Charlotte pipes up.

“Charlotte, I'm tall too! He could've winked at me just as easily”, comes Tereza's mock-exasperated tone. 

“Actually, I think you'll find that I'm an inch taller than you, but nice try, sweetie”

“Ugh, please, lets not start with calling ourselves “sweetie” again, it's bad enough in the group chat, dear god”, says Charlotte.

“Actually, you know what? I've changed my mind, I'm going to hold the Brendon Urie wink against you for as long as I know you, Jess. And you're never getting rid of me, so. Good luck”, Tereza grins between the two of them. “And don't look so happy, Charlotte. I'll find something to hold against you too, just you wait. I'd be pretty scared if I were you”, she continues when a snorted laugh comes from Charlotte's direction.   
“Tere, it's not my fault that I'm just so much cuter than you, I'm sorry but you're just going to have to-”

Before she can finish bragging, someone's arm bumps hard into her own and then there's half a mug of amber liquid and white foam spilling down her chest and seeping into her dusty pink halter neck dress. Jess stares down at the carnage, shivering with the combination of the cool night air, cold beer, and anger at the destruction of her new dress. A soft, warm hand lands on her exposed shoulder as she's gathering her thoughts on how best to fight the person that's just ruined her outfit and is the reason she's going to come back home stinking of alcohol to a lecture on “drinking responsibly” (and besides, even if she was drinking, it's not like she has a problem and she's old enough to do as she pleases, thank you very much). 

“God, I'm so, so sorry. I'm such a twat, oh god”, the Irish lilt makes her snap her head up because no way, no fucking way does that voice belong to whose she thinks it does. 

“Did I completely drench you? Oh god, I did, didn't I? I don't exactly make the best first impression sometimes”, he continues with a nervous laugh, but all Jess can do is stare at the golden blonde hair, teased upwards into a slightly messy quiff, tiny strands of hair dancing around his face, the lopsided quirk of his mouth as he tries to determine whether he will, in fact, get punched or not, and the blue, blue eyes staring into her own hazel brown. 

“C'mon, let me-let me make it up to you, or something. I'll buy you a drink”, his hand falls off Jess' shoulder to gesture towards the pub they've found themselves standing outside. The softness is gone but the warmth still lingers, searing into her bones. 

“Jess, fuck, say something”, Tereza hisses into her ear while Niall looks on, smile wider and more hopeful now he can tell that he isn't in immediate danger of physical violence. 

“Uh, yeah, alright”, Jess smiles back, hand flying to her hair in a vaguely self conscious effort to smooth down any fly-aways and keep her hair on the right side of wind-tousled (as opposed to an 'I haven't brushed it in three days' aesthetic). “Guess you could make it up to me with a drink, yeah, I suppose”, she says, rambling on slightly.

“Oi, Tommo! I'll be inside, alright?”, Niall shouts over his shoulder, and Tereza and Charlotte stare at each other, eyes wide and horror-struck.

“No way, he can't mean-”

“That can't be-”

“Everything alright, Nialler?” they hear as another man walks over, his petite stature, soft fringe, and waddle unmistakeable even under the dim glow of the lamppost outside. 

“Uh, yeah. I just, managed to fuck up-”, Niall looks at Jess with creased brows and an apologetic look on his face yet again. “Sorry, I didn't even get your name, I'm awful tonight”

“I'm Jess”, she tells him.

“I managed to spill beer all over lovely Jess, here, so I'm buying her a drink to say sorry, at least a bit”, he turns back to Louis.

“Sorry 'bout him, Jess. He's not exactly a charmer when he's pissed”, Louis leans in with a high-pitched giggle, his trademark Doncaster accent even more pronounced in close quarters.

“Anyway, off you two go then, don't keep the lady waiting, Niall!”, he says, trying to slap Niall on the bum, who jerks and jumps out of the way just in time. He motions his head towards the inside of the brick building.

“Shall we?”, he asks, and Jess casts one last look at Tereza and Charlotte as if to say 'oh god what do I do how do I not fuck this up help me help me please', but they're far too busy practically devouring Louis with their eyes, so she has no choice but to traipse in behind Niall, smile still plastered on her face but her heart ready to give in to a coronary at eighteen years old. Death by Niall Horan, what a way to go. 

“You don't mind if I light up, do you?”, Louis says as he takes a pack of cigarettes out of the back pocket of his black, skin tight jeans, rolled up to his ankle bone to reveal the dainty triangle tattoo on his right leg. Both girls shake their heads vigorously, and Louis holds the pack out after clutching his own cigarette between his two front teeth. Charlotte squeaks out a 'no, I'm good, thanks', sounding suspiciously close to tears, while Tereza takes him up on the offer, hand shaking as she reaches out. 

“Hey, don't cry, love”, Louis says, Charlotte's eyes welling up when she realises that it is, in fact, Louis Tomlinson standing in front of her, and not some sort of post-concert hallucination. “Aw, and you too, come on”, he aims at Tereza as he notices that she's trying to hold back tears, and her cheeks redden at his words. 

“I'm sorry, I know it's silly, but I just- I mean, it's you, I can't believe-”

“You just mean so much to us, I never thought I'd get to meet you, I'm so-”

They both try to choke out in between sobs, holding on to each other's arms in a vice-like grip to try and get themselves back to reality and out of the world where it's completely normal for them to run in to Louis Tomlinson outside of a pub in the middle of Putney. 

“Aw, it's alright, come on, loves”, Louis holds out his arms and gestures for them to come closer. “Let's go for a nice group hug shall we?”

Before the two know it, they're being enveloped by tiny but surprisingly strong arms, and soon, they're an intertwined huddle of arms and legs standing out in the night air, all leaning in to each other. Tereza hopes Louis doesn't notice her breathing in his hair. It smells like lavender. She feels like she's about to pass out, because it's like every single thing about him is perfect, and she's certain that Charlotte is about to do the same.

“You know that we're never letting go of you now, right?”, Charlotte says between shaky sobs. Louis is so soft and warm and comforting that she doesn't think she has it in her power to release him, ever. 

“That's alright, love, I've got all night”, Louis smiles back. The three of them stay like that, tension evaporating from Tereza and Charlotte's limbs as they lean deeper into the hug, Louis' hand alternating between rubbing up an down each one of their backs as a sign of reassurance, and Tereza feels like she might even fall asleep in the embrace if neither one of them moves any time soon when a familiar, slow, deep voice calls out,

“Lou?, Lou, you still out here?”  
Louis sighs endearingly through his nose and unwraps himself from the tangle of arms.

“Ah, sorry, that'll be the husband”, he says, playing with the golden wedding band on his ring finger almost subconsciously. “Don't want him getting too jealous, now”.

As soon as he says that, Harry comes up from behind, plastering himself to Louis' back and slotting his arms around his waist. Louis leans back into his touch and smiles fondly when a gentle kiss lands on the tip of his jaw, a stray curl tickling his ear.

“Thought you'd disappeared, babe”, he half-whispers against Louis' ear, and then a look of understanding falls across his face when he takes in Tereza and Charlotte, staring, eyes wide, just as they had done five minutes previously. Tereza takes a shaky drag on the cigarette clenched between her fingers, almost completely dwindled down after its neglect in the huddle. 

“Hi, I'm Harry”, he says, looking almost like he wants to reach a hand out for them to shake but can't bring himself to unwrap it from around his husband.

“I-we know”, Charlotte says. “Just a fair warning, I might start crying again”, she looks upwards and mentally wills the tears to stay the fuck in her eyes, knowing that her mascara is probably beyond salvation but refusing to embarrass herself in front of another member of One Direction yet again.

“See, now, I get crying over me, but crying over him?”, Louis tilts his head back towards Harry. “He's just average, bit boring, really. There's no point”.

“Oi, you. Don't be rude”, Harry pulls him closer and barks out a laugh.

“Your hair is so pretty”, says Tereza, sounding dazed. “Like, it's pretty in photos and videos and stuff, but in real life it's just so curly and pretty and long and- oh god, I'm rambling, I'm sorry, just, ignore me, honestly”, she suddenly snaps back to reality, cringing inwardly at her word vomit. 

“Thank you, don't apologise, I'm always a sucker for a compliment”, Harry says. “Besides, you can't be more obsessed with my hair than he is, trust me”, he leans down to brush the tips of his hair against Louis' cheek, and the smaller man giggles and writhes in his arms.

“That's true, I'm afraid. Told him I'd cut his balls off in his sleep if he ever cuts his hair”, Louis says.

“You two are so cute together”, Charlotte pipes up, more comfortable now that she can see that both Louis and Harry are huge dorks, just like anyone else. Ridiculously attractive, rich, and famous dorks, true, but still.

“I'm so happy for you two”, Tereza adds.

“I'm happy for myself, to be quite honest”, Harry fonds, and then, directed at Louis, “Where did Niall run off to?”

“Well, he managed to spill his beer over- sorry, I didn't actually get your names, did I?”, he starts, and Tereza and Charlotte reply trying to not sound too obviously excited at the fact that Louis and Harry Tomlinson, of all people, now know what they're called.

“He managed to spill his beer all over Tereza and Charlotte's friend, so he's back inside trying to reconcile with her over drinks”, Louis continues, and there's a sort of mischievous glimmer in his eyes. “I'm probably going to head back in, now, too”, he crushes the cigarette under his foot and Tereza does the same a couple seconds later.

“Sounds like Niall”, Harry says.

“You're more than welcome to join us for a few pints, if you want?”, Louis adds, and it takes the girls a moment to realise that they're the ones being addressed, because out of all the things that happened tonight, this is probably the most surreal. 

“Oh, no, we don't want to intrude”.

“Yeah, it's fine, we don't want to be annoying or anything-”

They try to argue, but Louis cuts them off.

“Nonsense, it's the least we can do after making you cry twice in one night, plus you don't want to abandon Jess, do you?”, he says, and, well, it's not like Tereza or Charlotte are going to turn him down a second time. Abandoning Jess in Putney, half drunk and with the man she's practically been in love with for the past few years would be cruel, to say the least.

“Come on, lets' go find Nialler”, Louis says, and they all make their way inside, Louis with slight difficulty since Harry's noodle limbs are still wrapped tightly around his torso and not looking like they're going to move away any time soon.

xx

The noise of the traffic outside seems practically calming in comparison to the din of the pub, completely crowded in typical fashion for 11pm on a Saturday night. They weave their way through the crowd, following the still-intertwined Louis and Harry. A few people look their way, probably recognising the celebrity couple and assuming that Tereza and Charlotte must be famous too if they're following right behind. Nobody stops them, though, the handful of curious glances leaving them unscathed as they finally make it to the bar. Harry pulls out a bar stool, miraculously free, and plops Louis right down onto his lap with a goofy grin.

“Haz, let go of me!”, Louis says, pretending to struggle, but after a moment of flailing his arms about he settles back into Harry's lap without another word. Charlotte and Tereza stand to the side of them, and when another bar stool frees up a few minutes later, Charlotte snatches it up without a word. Her bare feet are already sore and cold from the pub floor, and she dangles them off the edge of the stool, revelling in the freedom. Tereza is about to protest the fact that she's the only one left standing when a familiar white-blonde quiff catches her eye. Niall is leaning over the counter, trying to get the bartender's attention, while Jess stands right next to him, looking vaguely terrified but ridiculously happy at the same time. 

“Hey, look”, Tereza nudges Charlotte's arm instead of complaining, pointing her in the direction of Jess and Niall. They watch as Niall finally catches the bartender's eye, who slides over two glasses of something pink and fruity looking moments later.

“God, they really would be cute together”, Charlotte whispers as they hear Jess giggle at Niall's words over the sound of the upbeat music in the pub. They're so caught up in watching the two of them talk that they almost forget who they're sitting with, until Louis interrupts them with a, 

“Right, girls, what can I get you to drink?”  
It still feels bizarre, Louis Tomlinson of all people paying for their drinks, and Charlotte reaches out to squeeze Tereza's hand before they order, finally dragging her eyes away from Jess and Niall. 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bar, Jess is still about eighty percent sure that she's hallucinating everything, but if this is what a hallucination feels like, then she's going along with it. 

“Listen, I'm so sorry about what happened earlier, again”, Niall says as he hands her yet another napkin to wipe down her dress, almost knocking over his new drink in the process.

“Hey, careful!”, Jess starts, reaching out to catch Niall's arm before he spills another drink over her without a second thought, and if her hand stays on Niall's arm for a few seconds too long after the disaster is averted, well, it's not like anyone's counting. But rather than leaning away from her touch, Niall just smiles at Jess, slightly sheepish and maybe even blushing slightly if it's not the lighting in the pub playing a trick on his skin. 

“And I almost did it again, wow. I really can't be trusted around-well anything”, he says.

“We've all got our off days”, Jess smiles back, and her heart, which has only just stopped hammering, speeds up again when she sees the little crinkles at the corners of his eyes. 

“Trust my off day to be when I meet someone like you”, Niall says, and Jess doesn't even begin to comprehend what 'someone like you' could possibly mean. He's just being nice because he feels bad about ruining your dress, nothing more, she tries to remind herself. 

“But anyway, what are you even doing in Putney?”, Jess asks before her mind can begin racing with possibilities. 

“I live like ten minutes away, actually, so I come here from time to time. I don't get, you know, recognised too often and the rest of the boys love it here, so”.

“Actually that makes sense, I drive past your flat all the time on my way to work”, Jess says without thinking, and only realises how potentially creepy she sounds once the words are already out of her mouth and cringes inwardly.

“Weird that we haven't bumped into each other before, then”, Niall says, and Jess praises the gods that he doesn't ask her how she knows where he lives. It's not her fault that the tabloids know all about his new place within days of him buying it. And at least I'm not a stalker, she reassures herself.

“Maybe you should come here more often, then, if you want to bump into me more.”

“Hm, maybe I should”, Niall says back, and Jess only realises how close they've gotten when she looks up from her drink and realises she could practically count Niall's eyelashes if he wanted to. There's a moment where time seems to stand still in the most cliché way possible as they stare into each others' eyes, but then the song changes and the mood shifts again. Niall moves away, coughing slightly awkwardly to fill the silence between them, but then grabs the bright yellow cocktail umbrella from Jess' drink and twists it behind his ear.

“Oi, what do you think you're doing!”, Jess tries to grab his hand but he slips out of her grasp, only to take the pink umbrella from his own cup and tuck it into her hair.

“See, now we're matching”, Niall says, and then giggles in the most endearing way possible. Jess isn't sure if it's the alcohol finally getting to her or just Niall's mere presence making her feel light-headed, but she also suddenly feels a lot braver than she did twenty minutes ago. 

“You're adorable, you know”, she sighs, and then downs the rest of her cocktail. 

“Can I get you another drink?”, after finishing his own one, too, and signalling for the bartender again without waiting for Jess' reply.

“I don't know if Charlotte and Tereza will mind, but-”she looks round the bar for her friends, and finally spots them in what looks like a heated discussion with Louis and Harry, Charlotte's legs still swinging off the stool while Tereza laughs at something Harry has just said, hand still gripping onto Charlotte's arm. 

“Looks like they're in good company”, Niall follows Jess' gaze and then hands her another cocktail when she doesn't disagree. 

Time seems to pass in a blur, and Jess can't even remember how much her and Niall have had to drink between the two of them as he rambles on about golf or sailing or God knows what, while she hangs on to every single Irish-accented word. Every time she looks up at him, his cheeks seem to be redder and his hair a little bit more dishevelled, and she gets the urge to run her fingers through it. She reaches out, messing up his hair even more under the pretence of playing with the umbrella still nested behind his ear, and wonders if it would be weird if she kept her hand there for the rest of the night. A week ago, she was daydreaming about Niall and now he's here in the flesh, nuzzling into the palm of her hand with the side of his head like a puppy. The soft strands of hair tickle Jess' hand and she giggles, finally bringing herself to draw away. By the momentary disappointed look on Niall's face, she wonders whether she should have just kept it there forever after all, and again the thought of Niall seeing her as just more than someone he spilt his drink on flits through her mind. 

“You know what we should-”, Jess starts, pausing to hiccup, and then continues, swaying slightly in her seat, “-what we should do? We should get out of here. We should go explore!”

Niall stares at her, a bit unfocused, but then nods solemnly. “We should. Come on!”

He grabs her hand and practically drags her out of her seat, both of them almost toppling over each other on their unsteady feet. 

“Harry! Louis! We're going exploring!”, Niall shouts in the general direction of the rest of the group, and then him and Jess are out and through the door without waiting for a reply.


End file.
